~Upstairs~

As soon as Astrid and Stormfly arrived at Castle Dunbroch, Astrid jumped off and ran inside with her axe in hand. She would have immediately left the Scottish land—never to return again— but she felt far too close to Valka to leave without ensuring her safety.

She snuck around the corners, careful to not be seen until she realized she was furious and would love to fight someone before leaving. Unfortunately, Odin was not on her side.

Everyone was far too busy helping the injured to notice her outside and it almost seemed deserted inside. Almost. There was a lot of commotion coming from the dining area and no matter how angry Astrid felt she knew she'd be at a disadvantage in that battle— even if Stormfly managed to get in to help.

She ran past the dining area and up the stairs. She thought no one had seen her pass by.

"Valka?" Astrid called once she was on the second floor.

No one seemed to be around. She made her way to the end of the hall— where the girl's guest room was— and opened the door.

"Astrid," Someone called from behind her.

It seemed like someone did notice her after all. Someone Astrid had gotten to know a bit in only one day. Astrid gripped the handle of her axe tightly before turning around, ready to strike.

Ryan MacIntosh stood in front of her with his hands open. His kilt was tattered and hastily knotted together with his tartan on both sides of his hip. The sight almost made Astrid smirk in amusement. He must have ripped it to get out of Stormfly's spikes.

"I don't want to fight ye," Ryan told her.

His eyes didn't hold an ounce of fear for his safety, instead they held some sort of anxiety. They pleaded with Astrid to listen.

"You mean you can't fight me," Astrid scoffed.
"What very little you know, I taught you."

Their little sparring lesson from earlier flashed through Ryan's mind. When he didn't reply Astrid got annoyed.

"I'm just looking for Valka, have you seen her?" Astrid asked him through gritted teeth.

"Hiccup's Mamaidh?" He asked for confirmation.

She tried to keep her glare steady, but his name made her emotions get the best of her. She tilted her head down to make her hair cover her eyes. Astrid did not cry. Especially not in front of the enemy.

"Why? Listen. The fight is over, Lord DingWall wasn't to blame. If you come down with me—," Astrid placed the blade of her axe closer to his neck cutting off his suggestion.

"Why would I? So you can turn me in to your Princess?" Astrid sneered the last word before giving a bitter chuckle. "You should have stayed down where Stormfly pinned you."

Without looking up she pulled her arm back to strike him with the axe's handle. He gently grabbed her arm making her look up in surprise. He was looking to the side almost as if thinking about something.

"Turning ye into my princess does seem rather appealing," he wistfully mumbled before chuckling. "I'm just kidding, please don't hit! And don't tell Hiccup or else he and—."

He turned to look at her who, at the very mention of Hiccup's name again, began to waver. He let go of her hand and grabbed her face, pulling her slightly closer. She accidentally dropped her axe when she was dumbfounded by his actions.

"Yer eyes are all red. Have ye been crying?" He asked.

His concerned-filled eyes scared her. She let a few tears slip before she did the only thing that came naturally. She pulled his hands away from her face and pulled him closer. The moment her knee made contact with his stomach she pushed him inside the room and closed the door.

"I should have done that sooner," Astrid grumbled.

She quickly wiped her tears and grabbed her axe. She was about to check the other hallways for Valka when she saw him running by and stopping in front of the hall.

"Astrid! Please, listen," Hiccup said as he huffed from the run.

Astrid's grip on her axe made her knuckles turn white. She wanted nothing to do with him anymore. She had allowed herself to grow weak because of him, but she wasn't going to do it again. Astrid did not run from trivial things such as boys.

So, why was it that she turned around and ran into the room? Why was it that she slid down the door and covered her face like some sort of spoiled child who refused to leave her room until she got what she wanted?

"Astrid!" Hiccup called from outside her guest room door.

"Don't talk to me!" Astrid yelled from inside though it was muffled by her arms.

"Listen, I don't know when it started... I don't know when we ended," Hiccup put his
forehead on the door. "All I know is... that I'm sorry it happened this way."

"We've only been here 3 days! Is that all we were to you?" Astrid asked, her voice shaking. "Everything we went through..."

She cursed at herself for seeming so weak.

"Astrid, you were my everything. You're still one of the most important people in the world to me. I know what we did is terrible, but I won't apologize for something I can't control. I won't apologize for how I feel," Hiccup told her. "I do want to apologize for how I made you feel. How we made you feel."

"You think a simple apology like that will fix everything?" Astrid asked him, her tone losing its sadness leaving only emptiness.

"Astrid... what do you want me to do?" Hiccup asked. "What could possibly make you feel any better?"

Astrid closed her eyes, realizing what he was asking. There was nothing he could do. Nothing that could make them both happy in the end. Nothing that would end with them being together again.

The only thing he could do to calm her and himself would be to give her a few answers.

"Just answer my questions with complete honesty and without hesitating," she told him.

"Of course," Hiccup replied.

She picked her head up, finally noticing Ryan. She had forgotten that she threw him in there right before she saw Hiccup. He had his back turned toward her and his hands were covering his ears.

The corners of Astrid's lips turned slightly upward at the sight. It seemed he was more considerate than he led on. She stood up and turned toward the door.

"Did something happen before I got there?"
She asked.

"A lot of things actually, we fought Gaston. He used some sort of magic black sand to make Merida think that he was me and I was him. Toothless pounced on him and Merida tried to save him. I tried to get her to snap out of it, but she attacked me and stabbed my side. I knew there was no talking to him so I told Toothless to shoot him. He turned into sand and the wind blew him away. Merida realized what she did and I thought I was a goner for sure. But... she had these magic rings," Hiccup looked down at his hand. "She saved me."

"Do you... Do you love her because she saved you, or have you felt this way for some time?" Astrid asked.

"To tell you the truth, I don't know when I started to fall for her. I know it was before she saved me, because I'm the one who made her stay when she wanted to leave for your sake. I mean, I knew I liked her since the moment we started talking, but I didn't think I liked her this much," Hiccup answered truthfully.

"If... If she wasn't in the picture at all... If we had never set foot in this place... would we have worked?" She asked.

She didn't know what she wanted to hear. She didn't know if his answer would hurt or help her. All she knew is that, in the moment, she wanted to be sure.

"To tell you the truth? I think so. I had never once imagined my life without you in it. And... I'm hoping I still won't have to," Hiccup replied. "But I know you'll need time. And I'm willing to wait until forever, as long as I get a chance to earn your trust again."

Astrid sighed and placed her forehead on the door. After that last statement she was all out of questions. Why did he have to be so understanding? She opened the door to a surprised Hiccup.

"This is for cheating on me," She told him before punching him in the shoulder.

"I deserved that," he groaned.

"And this is for still caring," she finished before giving him a hug.

"You're one of my best friends," Hiccup told her and hugged her back.

She savored the feeling, not because she'd long for it later, but for closure. This was the end of a relationship that took 7 years to progress after all.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm still not happy about this, but I'll get over it," Astrid told him and let go. "Is this your blood?"

She looked down at her dress when she felt a wet spot near her ribs.

"Yeah, but like I said my wound is all healed though," he told her.

"We should get some of that for emergencies," Astrid commented.

"It could come in handy for some specific situations. Hey, is that Ryan?" Hiccup asked and looked past her.

"Yeah, I kneed him and threw him in there before you got here," Astrid replied.

She walked over and tapped his shoulder. He continued to cover his ears while he turned his head to look up. She signalled for him to get up. He slowly removed his hands and got up wincing slightly from pain.

"Astrid, that bruise is going to take a while to heal," Hiccup commented when he saw Ryan walking over.

Astrid looked at Ryan's stomach. She felt a slight pain just by looking at it.

"Hey, we were in the middle of a battle," Astrid shrugged. "But I guess I did go a little far. I was a bit... temperamental at the time."

"That's her way of apologizing," Hiccup told him.

"Aye, I can see that," Ryan replied with a nervous smile. "Are you ready to go down there and talk to the lords?"

"Merida is doing that right now, but she might need help from—you know— the people who were under attack," Hiccup replied, referencing Astrid and himself.

"Okay, but I do not want to talk to her," Astrid warned him.

"Fair enough," Hiccup replied sheepishly.

"Lead the way, if I can avoid looking at her I'll feel better," Astrid told him.

"Okay," Hiccup agreed and walked ahead.

Ryan wondered why Astrid was mad at Merida, but he figured she wouldn't want to talk about it with him. Astrid put her arm in front of him to stop him from walking. Hiccup didn't seem to notice as he walked ahead.

"Is something—?" Ryan asked.

"I'm sorry for the bruise I made," Astrid apologized without looking at him. "You weren't attacking me or anything. Though, you did touch me, so really it was your fault."

"Do you always sound this guilty when you apologize? Or am I just special?" Ryan teased.

When he realized his slip up he got ready for another hit.

"You're lucky I know how fragile you are otherwise I would have never felt bad about the bruise," Astrid replied with a smirk. "And don't try to tell anyone I apologized because they'll never believe you. Now, hurry up before he looks back and doesn't see us."

He was surprised she hadn't hit him like she had done at least three times already.

~Flashback to earlier that day~

"You can go," Astrid told his opponent and waved him off.

His opponent was confused, never before had a woman told him what to do. Confused at the command he left albeit unsure of himself.
Ryan saw Astrid turn to him and get in a fighting stance.

Did... Did she really expect him to fight her?

When she didn't back down he took it as a sign to copy her.

"You need to keep your hands up—in front of your face," Astrid instructed.

"Look! Young MacIntosh is fightin' a woman!" Someone from the crowd yelled.

A swarm of people gathered around. Ryan panicked and turned to the crowd with his chest puffed out.

"Please, I am merely teaching her how to protect herself," he boasted.

Astrid glared at the back of his head and kicked his leg. He fell to his knees and turned to her.

"It seems like I've learned enough," Astrid told him with a hand on her hip.

She jumped off the ring and left to go to the stables.

"Astrid, wait!" Ryan called and ran after her.

Astrid continued to walk until he stood in front of her.

"I'm sorry," Ryan apologized. "Ye saw how I fight. I'm only good with swords. I've always been afraid of getting hurt which is why I pick swords as my weapons... It keeps my enemy at a distance."

He never once looked away from her despite his head being slightly dipped down in shame. Astrid was surprised he had so easily divulged his personal feelings to her.

"You've got a long way to go before you can protect yourself without a sword," Astrid told him and walked past him.

Ryan sighed, knowing how ridiculous he had just looked.

"If you want to start, follow me. We can go practice somewhere private," Astrid told him without looking back. "I wouldn't want to embarass you too much."

Ryan quickly caught up to her.

"Oh, Astrid, if you wanted to spend time alone with me you simply had to ask," Ryan told her, regaining his air of arrogance.

Astrid punched him in the shoulder.

"Do that again and I won't go easy on you," Astrid warned him.

"Aye, aye. Sorry," Ryan replied with a nervous laugh.

~End of Flashback~

Ryan snapped out of it when he saw Astrid was already a ways ahead. The two young adults made it out of the hall. They could see the top of Hiccup's head descending the stairs as they made it to the top of the stairs.

Astrid stopped walking and looked down with eyebrows furrowed. Ryan walked closer and saw Merida and Hiccup at the bottom.

Merida had been on her way to look for them when she saw Hiccup coming downstairs. Ryan noticed their interlocked hands. He looked at Astrid, piecing together what might have happened.

The two guys shared a nervous look as Merida and Astrid had a stare down.